Night stand re-do

Yesterday I got several things done.

I cleaned up and cleaned out Bella's room. It took 2 1/2 hours and every time I clean it I swear up and down that I will never do that again. I did throw away two bags of crap that she just collects for some reason. She is such a hoarder! But, it's clean for now and hopefully she will keep it that way since I threatened her life ;)

When Tyler out grew his bunk beds we gave him Jason's old bedroom suit. Jason didn't take very good care of it, but it worked out good for Tyler. I've been wanting to refinish it for a while and make it look a little more modern, but I had no idea how to do that and I have always heard that it is a pain in the butt and very time consuming to strip off all the old stain. I had been reading about Annie Sloan's chalk paint (not chalkboard paint) for a few weeks and I finally bought some two weeks ago. Yesterday was the first day that I had time and it wasn't raining so I brought his nightstand out on the patio and did it. I was very nervous because I'm not crafty or creative and I didn't want to mess it up. I picked his night stand because it was small and didn't take too long. Of course after I got it outside and looked at the night stand it was in pretty bad shape and it definitely couldn't look any worse. If I messed it up I decided that I would just pay someone to refinish the entire bedroom suit and be done with it.

Before pictures:

 I'm really not sure what the black stuff is so I asked Tyler and he said he could have spilled something on there and "forgot" to wipe it off.

 The top looked horrible! I guess I just hadn't looked at it in so long that I forgot how bad it was.

  After:

 I was shocked at how much better the top looked!

 I went back and forth on buying new pulls or just painting the old ones. I ended up just spray painting them black and I love how they turned out!

 The finished product!

Since this is my first time ever doing something like this I have nothing to compare it to, but this was so easy and only took a couple of hours from start to finish. There is no prep work! No sanding or striping. I did sand the top just a little because it was so rough, but I really think it would have came out the same if I would have just left it alone. The first coat when on really fast and dried very quickly so I was able to start the second coat as soon as I finished the first. The second coat did take a little longer to dry. I bought dark soft wax and just used a cloth to rub it in. I put the pulls back and that was it! The only drawback is the price. It is $34.95 for a quart! Now it does go a long way and I should be able to do Tyler's whole room with a quart so when you think of it that way it is not too bad. I didn't distress Tyler's furniture because he liked how it turned out, but it is supposed to be very easy to distress so it can have that aged look.

Now I hope to do the rest of his furniture before the baby gets here. I'm also planning on painting Bella's furniture Old White, but that will be after the baby gets here! I have several other pieces of furniture that I want to paint, but they have so many great colors that I'm having a hard time deciding which ones I like best.

This and that

I am 31 weeks pregnant today. That means only 9 more weeks (or some where close to that) to go.

I went to the doctor yesterday. I have to go back on my birthday which is in two weeks! I had no idea it was that close! Anyway, I will have another ultrasound done just to make sure he is growing like he should be, but I measured perfectly yesterday so I'm sure he is perfect. Now I will be going to the doctor every two weeks until I hit 36 weeks and then I will go every week. I can't believe it's already that time.

I measured my stomach and it is 38" now! It seems to be growing about 3/4 of an inch every week.

We started Hypnobabies class last Sunday and I really liked it. It is different and a little weird at first, but it is very interesting. Our second class is this Sunday and I'm really looking forward to what we will learn in this class.

Last night was Bella's first reconciliation. It turned out great and it's always so cute to see Bella with her friends. I bet those priest hear all kinds of things from those kids. I wonder how they keep from laughing?

Finley is having her birthday pictures made today and I'm really hoping she will take a good nap and be in a good mood for them. I love pictures of my kids, but they can be stressful.

Tyler has two games this weekend. One at 9:00 tonight and the second one at 5:00 tomorrow. Bella has one on Saturday morning at 9:00 after her pictures at 7:45! That is just too early for pictures.

I'm having maternity pictures made on Sunday. This is the first time I have ever had them made, but I'm excited. I love being able to look at pictures of how much my stomach has grown. I having them outside and it's supposed to be cold, but that is better than rain!

I signed Tyler and Bella up for soccer last weekend and found out that practice starts the week of February 20th and the first games will be March 17th!

We have a full weekend, but at least it's not supposed to rain! YAY!

 Here is what I see when I look down. I can actually still see my feet, but to get the picture I had to lean back a little.

 31 Weeks! 

 The girls reading yesterday afternoon. That floor can't be comfortable, but that is where they decided to do it.

New house

When we found out that there was a possibility that we might be moving to Birmingham we decided that we would live in Homewood. As we began to look for a house, we quickly realized that was easier said then done. I LOVE Homewood! I love all the old houses and the neighborhood feel, but those little houses are not made for a family of 6. There are some gorgeous re-models there as well, but $700,000 is just not in our budget. So after we talked about it we decided that we would start looking in Gardendale as well. I was still hoping that we would find some awesome deal on a bigger house in Homewood, but that just never happened.

We found a great lot in a great neighborhood and decided that we should check into building. Jason's brother had just finished a house so we talked to his builders. We really liked all that they put into their houses so we decided to go with them. That was back in September and we are just now ready to close on the lot. We really thought we would be in the house before baby #4 was born, but we will be lucky if we are in by July now.

It's not all the builders fault, even though they have been slow with things on their end. Basically everything that could go wrong did and it has taken months to straighten out all the little kinks that have popped up. For a while I really thought everything was going to fall apart and we would have to start all over again. We built our first home so we knew what all went into building and somethings take a while, but this house has been one of the most frustrating things we have ever done. I'm really hoping it will be smooth sailing once they get started since we have had so many problems at the beginning.

I know I sound negative, but we are very excited! We designed the house ourselves so it has pretty much everything we want. We should have plenty of room and storage space. I'm really going to love the back yard. It will be nice and flat and fenced so I can just let Finley run wild. I think what I am most excited about is actually owning a home again. We sold our house in March 2008 and we have rented since then. There are good things and bad things about renting and in our situation it was the best option since we never knew how long we would be in one place. We plan on staying here until Tyler graduates from high school so we definitely wanted to own a house and not be in a rental for the next four years.

Getting prepared

Now that Christmas and Finley's birthday are behind us, I've got to start getting ready for baby #4. I'm a total procrastinator when it comes to stuff like this because I always think that I have plenty of time. But then it sneaks up on me and I'm never prepared.

I need to go through boxes and pull out what I will need. I have boxes here in the garage and at my parents house in their garage so I'm sure it will be an all day event. 

I finally found the bedding that I want for his room. It's from Pottery Barn Kids and the best part is that they have it packaged with just the quilt, sheet, and crib skirt. Since you are not supposed to use bumper pads anymore there is no point in buying them and then throwing them in the closet. The wall color in his room will be grey so I'm hoping to find some cute pictures to brighten up the room. 

When did strollers become so expensive??? There are all kinds of "designer" strollers that cost well over $1000!
I'm looking for a double stroller that has two seats because Finley can't do the Sit-N-Stand thing. She would never stay in there so I have to strap her in. I also want a tandem stroller so it is not so wide. I was going to go with a Chicco, but you have to have a Chicco car seat. Since I have a Graco car seat that is only two years old I don't want to buy a new one. I found the Contours Options Tandem II stroller that looks promising. The only thing that worries me is I've seen people complain that the front seat is not long enough for their toddlers. Finley is tall so I'm going to have to check it out and see how she fits. I really like the red and black one better, but I think this one will look better with our brown paisley car seat. What do you think?

I've also been looking at carriers. I think I have decided on the ERGObaby baby carrier. They are a little pricey, but I have heard great things about them. I love this grey one!

I've always had a sound monitor (I'm actually still using the one I got when I was pregnant with Tyler!), but I'm thinking about upgrading this time and getting a video monitor. I can't find one that everyone agrees is the best so I think I may just go with this one.

I've already bought a Nap Nanny, but I have to get a new cover for it since the current one is hot pink! I should probably start buying some clothes too since all I have is Finley's girly clothes.  Any suggestions on must have baby items?

Finley's party and her 2 year check up

We had Finley's party Saturday night at my parents house (one day we will move in our house and will have room for everyone).  She wasn't sure what was going on when everyone sang to her and she wouldn't blow out her candles. She was excited about opening her gifts and really loves what she got.

I took her to the doctor this morning for her two year check-up and she is doing great. She is 37" tall which is off the charts. She weighed 28 pounds and that is in the 75th percentile. She was curled up in my lap the entire time the doctor was in the room, but she did let her check everything out without crying so I was proud of her. She hasn't been since she was 18 months so she had no idea what a doctor was or did. She got a sucker for being so good so that always makes everything better ;)

It was also our first time at this practice and I really liked the doctor. She was really nice and not rushed. She is also fine with only giving the new baby 2 shots at a time. I refuse to give my kids 5 or 6 shots in one day and finding a doctor out west who was fine with that was easy. After we moved back to Birmingham and I started looking for a pediatrician I realized that it may not be that easy here. Most have their policies listed on there websites and they are strict about immunizations. I think we will be really happy with this doctor and I look forward to getting to know her better.

                                              A Dora Pillow Pet!!

                                       My girls have an obsession with stuffed animals

                                             Dora, Diego, and Boots cake

                                         Everyone singing happy birthday

                                  She was still not sure why everyone was singing to her

                                            Me blowing out her candles

                                                    Yay!

Finley is TWO!

Today, on Friday the 13th, is Finley's second birthday along with several other people we know including my mother-in-law! We have been talking her birthday up the last few days and she is really excited about drinking coke and eating cake. I think Bella must have told here about that or something because I have no idea where that came from. We are doing a Dora party since she is her favorite. Hopefully she will want to open presents tomorrow at her party. She got pretty tired of doing that at Christmas.

She still loves playing in her room and outside. She is talking more and more and I think she may be getting a tad bit bossy! She still loves her pappy (pacifier) and I have no plans to take it away from her anytime soon. It will be hard enough for her when the new baby gets here so I want her to have something that comforts her. Plus, Tyler and Bella were both older when we got rid of their pacifiers. The same goes for potty training. I think I may buy a potty and have it here so she can see it and use it if she wants, but I'm not pushing it right now. I really don't want two in diapers, but that is better than cleaning pee and poop out of panties!


We are still having trouble with naps. I will put her in her bed around 11:30 and she will stay there for at least an hour and play and jump and sing and throw everything out of her bed. I will get her up and let her play, but then when we go get Tyler and Bella from school she will fall asleep and sleep for about an hour in the car. She did take a nap yesterday and that was the first one in a week. Hopefully it is a phase and she will get back into her normal routine soon (I hope!).

The last two years have gone by extremely fast and I keep thinking that there is no way that she is already two. I know as I get older the years go by faster and faster and that is a little scary. It makes me not want to miss one second with my kids because I know that I will turn around and they will be grown. I'm really trying to figure out a way to slow time down. Has anyone figured that out yet??


She has blessed our family with so much joy and laughter. She definitely keeps us on our toes, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I honestly can't imagine life without her. Did we even have a life before her?

I'm really looking forward to the next year with her. I can't wait to see how she grows and changes. She is already so animated and funny. I can't wait to see what she does next.

Here are a few pictures from the last month.

                                                   Playing outside

                                                  Relaxing after her bath

                                                      Drinking ketchup

                                           After she ate spaghetti ;)

                                              Cutest ponytail ever!

                                           Eating pancakes this morning

                                                Playing with her new piano

The third trimester

I'm 28 weeks today which means I have officially began my third trimester! Only 12 weeks to go! I say that like I'm ready to have this baby and I'm no where close. In fact, the only baby I was "ready" to have was Tyler and that was probably because I had no clue what I was doing! When I went into labor with Finley 2 days early all I could think was that I wasn't ready because I still had some stuff I needed to get done.  She didn't care, but that is what was going through my head.

I got some good news on Tuesday. I passed my blood glucose test so I don't have to take the three hour test! Yay!

I go back to the doctor on the 26th. After that I start going every 2 weeks. That is when the time will really fly by. It makes me nervous just thinking about it.

I start Hypnobabies classes on the the 22nd. It is a six week course that teaches you how to eliminate pain by erasing fear in labor. I'm really excited and I hoping these classes will help me with my goal of having an unmedicated birth.

I'm having maternity pictures made on the 29th. I have never had them before because I always gain too much weight and just feel gross. So far I have done really well with my weight so I made the appointment. Hopefully they will turn out well.

I decided to measure my stomach last night and it is a round 36 inches! I wish I would have started from the beginning and measured every week or two so I could keep track of how much my stomach has expanded. I think I may try and measure every week until the end just to see how big I get.

So here is what 28 weeks looks like on me.

 Those stretch marks you see in the third and fourth picture are from Tyler. He gave me some pretty awesome ones. I don't think anymore have shown up in my pregnancies since him. I guess that is what happens when you gain 60 pounds!

A look back at 2011

My friend Susan at http://slmward.blogspot.com/ did this post so I thought I would too! It's just a look back at the last 12 months with my favorite picture from each month. I meant to post this on New Years Eve, but I forgot. I'm finally getting it up today, January 3rd!

January

Our sweet little Finley turned one on January 13th. This was a picture of her enjoying her birthday cupcake. She has changed so much in just one year! It's hard to believe that we will be celebrating her second birthday in just a couple of weeks.

February

This is when my sister came to visit us in California and we were having a girls day full of shopping! It was one of those days that I really enjoyed because it doesn't happen much, but when it does it is a lot of fun. H&M is our favorite store and so we spent most of our time in there.

March

Bella lost her first tooth and her second tooth on the same night. It was a huge ordeal getting them out because her big teeth had already started to grow in behind the baby teeth. There was a ton of drama, but we got them and now her big teeth are in. One of her top front teeth is loose now, but hopefully we can wait for it to come out on it's own.

April

I should probably put one up of Bella since it's her birthday, but anytime we have a family picture and we are all at least looking towards the camera, that is something to be proud of! This was taken on Pier 39 in San Francisco. My in-law's had come to visit and we were going to tour Alcatraz that day.

May

During the month of May we celebrated Mother's day, Jason's birthday, and our wedding anniversary. This picture is from Mother's day when Jason, Bella, and Finley got up and made me breakfast. We had french toast, hashbrowns (with ketchup), bacon, and chocolate milk, my favorite!

June

This was my first 5k in three years! I actually had my best time at this one and it made me excited about running again. It was nice and flat and we ran along the beach. It doesn't get any better than that! I ran until I was 9 weeks pregnant and then I had some problems and they told me to lay off for a while. It was really hard for me to just pick back up after I hadn't ran in 4 weeks so I have been walking 5 days a week since then. Walking is alright, but I really miss running and I can't wait to start back after this baby is born.

July

 We had family (by family I mean my WHOLE family!) pictures made when we were home during the summer. My parents like to send out Christmas cards with a picture of all the grandkids, so some time during the year we all get together for pictures. Pictures can be so stressful, but I'm glad that we have them. 

August

August was a great month for us! We moved back to Birmingham after living out west for three years! We also found out that we were expecting our fourth little peanut! This is a picture of Tyler and Bella's first day of school back at Our Lady of Sorrows. Tyler went there through 4th grade and Bella was there for preschool before we moved. I'm so happy that Tyler gets to spend his 8th grade year with all of his friends.

September

Here is baby number four at twelve weeks and five days. This was our second ultrasound. The first one was at almost nine weeks and it is really amazing how much they grow in just a few weeks. He looked like a little bean in the first one, but you can make out all of his body parts by 13 weeks.

October

Tyler turned 14, yes 14, on October 7th. It still blows my mind every time I tell someone his age. We could not ask for a better son. I know there will be some hard times ahead, but he is so not what I think of when I picture a 14 year old boy. He is so level headed and he knows exactly where he wants his life to go and the best way to get there. We are so very proud of him. 

November

On November 1st Jason and I found out the sex of baby #4. I wanted to wait until it was born, but he really wanted to know. We didn't find out with Finley so I told him it was up to him. I think he went back and forth about it because there are definite perks to not knowing the sex, but in the end his curiosity won out and he wanted to know.  I debated weather or not to post this picture because it is kind of vulgar, but I decided to anyway. So it's definitely a boy!! He is very proud of himself because every ultrasound we have had he has always shown it off. Even at 12 weeks the U/S tech could tell the sex. We still hadn't decided if we were going to find out so we waited.

December

Christmas was great this year! It is so nice to be back here and not have to worry about flying in and out and such a hectic time of the year. Finley still doesn't understand Christmas, but she had fun and she is really enjoying all her new things. 

Our New Year's Eve consisted of going to a wedding rehearsal, going to eat dinner, and then I was asleep by 10:45. I just couldn't make it to midnight. On New Year's day my brother got married so we got to spend the day with family. 

2011 was a great year for us, but I'm really looking forward to 2012. We will have a new baby sometime in March or April and HOPEFULLY we will be in our new house by the summer. I can't wait to see what else the year brings and I hope that everyone had a wonderful 2012. I've always heard that even years are better than odd years!